There are over 600 wounded soldiers inside the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the southeastern port of Mariupol, and 40 of them are in serious condition and need immediate evacuation.
According to the commander of the 12th operational brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, Denis Shlega, medicines and medical instruments are really lacking, according to the Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty.
Four women, spouses of Ukrainian soldiers trapped at Azovstal appeared online Sunday and asked for help from Turkey. According to Ekaterina Prokopenko, Yulia Fedosyuk, Anna Naumenko and Daria Tsikunova, their husbands only drink a glass of water a day and have very few food supplies.
The women said that many seriously wounded soldiers die due to the lack of medicine inside the plant, and there have been cases of amputation without anesthesia. They asked Turkey's president Recep Erdogan to help their husbands, saying they were going to Turkey to meet with the President.
Dmitry Kozatsky, a member of the Azov Regiment who is now in Azovstal, told Current Time TV that there is just a week's food left inside the plant. He said that they only eat once a day to save food.
I think there are approximately five days left in terms of food and water, maybe for a week. We had lunch today, and we only have one meal a day. He said it was oatmeal and little carrots.
He said that there were no medicines, which means that the wounded get worse every day. Since there are no medicine and means for treatment, the condition of our wounded soldiers is getting worse and worse every day. The approximate number of wounded is 600 - 700 people, but we can't give an exact number because some people stand up to fight further because they have wounds. We see complications in those who have had amputation and other injuries due to the lack of antibiotics. Kozatsky said our doctors are doing their best, but the situation is critical.
He said that drinking water has run out of water. We use processed water and try to boil it. He said that there are about five days left in terms of food and water, maybe a week.
Kozatsky said that they are surrounded, and there is no way they can get out of here with what they have left. He said Turkey is the best option for an evacuation because of the fact that we do not have much ammunition left, and not many people who are combat-ready.
Turkey has announced that it is working to negotiate an exit for the wounded soldiers, but its efforts have been complicated as Russia nor Ukraine has given clearance for the plan.